A known measuring system, which is used in a road construction machine for measuring layer thickness, comprises a control unit which is connected via a fieldbus to each of a plurality of, preferably, three elevation measuring sensors. For this, the control unit is for each of the three sensors provided with a respective connection box which is via a bus system connected with each respective sensor.
The use of a multi-connector strip is known which is integrated into the control unit and operatively connected thereto. The connector strip provides one socket for each of the sensors. Each socket is formed for the specific use with precisely one sensor type, where the sensors can each be connected via a respective fieldbus to the sockets. The problem with this is that the use of multiple sensors also requires the use of multiple fieldbus cables resulting in increased costs and complicated cabling.
Although the sockets provided in the connector strip of the control unit do not all need to be occupied, they cannot be occupied arbitrarily, however. Consequently, for the use of different sensors or different combinations of sensors, respectively, connector strips specifically adapted thereto must always be used in order to enable functional communication between the sensors and the control unit of the measuring system. This leads to undesirably high manufacturing costs. Moreover, the known measuring system is not flexibly usable due to the individually adapted connector strips.
In addition, addressing employed sensors is with the known measuring system unalterably predetermined, because the respective sensors will operate only in precisely that corresponding socket. Therefore, the application options of the known measuring system are rather limited.
Based on the measuring system described above, the disclosure is based on the object of improving a measuring system and a method using simple features technically designed such that it can be combined with a random number of different field devices and ensure flexible and reliable addressing of the individual field devices within the measuring system or by the measuring method, respectively.